Season Popcorn With Macaroni and Cheese
Cheese popcorn is a special snack. Usually found in inflatable bags or seasonal cans, the (ideally) bright orange puffy kernels are the perfect combination of salty and spicy. Homemade cheese popcorn recipes often involve ordering cheese powder online or buying special (often overpriced) popcorn seasoning shakers, but it’s a lot easier than that. All you need for the perfect cheese popcorn is a box of macaroni (and cheese).
Seasoning popcorn with macaroni powder, as suggested by this smart Reddit user, makes sense for a lot of reasons. First, it has already turned into an ultrafine dust that clings to every fluffy piece of corn. It is also a fully developed flavoring agent. The pasta and cheese should be cheesy, yes, but they should also be creamy with a fair amount of pungency caused by lactic acid. Mac powder brings all of these flavors into the bowl, eliminating the need to add extra salt or oil.
All you need besides packing your favorite boxed pasta powder is butter and popcorn. Put the corn on the stove – I love Jessica Koslow’s method – pour it into a large bowl and stir in the cheese powder along with the popped corn, sprinkling a little and shaking the bowl gently between tops.
As for the leftover pasta, I’m sure you will find a use for it, like goulash, some DIY hamburger helper, or, you know, mac and cheese (with real grated cheese).